What was the goal of the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

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The goal of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed in August of 1928 by France, the United States, Germany the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Belgium, Italy and Japan, was to outlaw war in the wake of the end of WWI. After the three world leaders signed the historic pact, most of the other 47 countries committed as well.

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The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aristide Briand, with the help of American peace advocates Nicholas Murray Butler and James T. Shotwell, proposed that the United States and France enter into an alliance, together whose goal was to outlaw war.

President Calvin Coolidge and Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg had reservations about only signing the agreement with France. They believed that by doing so, the United States would be obligated to take up arms if France was attacked. Instead, Coolidge and Kellogg suggested that all nations sign the peace pact.

The nations that signed the pact agreed to two resolute declarations; the first being that war was illegal when used as an instrument of national policy, and the second stating that all countries that signed the peace pact agreed to settle any disputes with one another through peaceful means.